Wyatt Fields is an Entrepreneur, Surfer and Pitmaster of Breakwater BBQ in Half Moon Bay California | Ep.47 – Special Edition Half Moon Bay Business Podcast
Summary
Wyatt got into the barbecue restaurant business because of his love of cooking outside after spending years in kitchens in San Francisco getting yelled at by talented, but hot headed chefs.
Listen in to learn his journey from working in kitchens, to being a sales representative for a surf board company to buying a grill, some meat and launching his business in Half Moon Bay, California. And…
Wyatt gives us some HPT’s on how to be the Pitmaster of our backyard and grill some amazing barbecue.
Find Wyatt, heck order some of his amazing barbecue, from his website: Breakwater BBQ or…
Torture yourself watching Wyatt grill with his time-honored, slow smoked, American craft barbecue on
Instagram at @BreakWaterBarbecue
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Hello,
Brandon:
friends. Welcome to the show. I’m your host, Brandon. See, White. And today we continue our local Half Moon Bay, Calif. Business. Siri’s with no other than pit Master Wyatt Fields of break water barbecue. Now cooking barbecue on the coast in California with a nice cold beer and some coleslaw.
Brandon:
Does it sound any better?
Brandon:
Oh, wait. Let me throw in that Wyatt is also a surfer and actually worked for a surfboard company before he became a pit master and entrepreneur at Breakwater Barbecue. You’re gonna love this story. I’m not gonna waste another second. Wyatt with breakwater barbecue in our local half Moon Bay, Calif.
Brandon:
Siri’s. Okay, well, thanks for joining us today. We got Wyatt from great border barbecue right down the road from me, Actually, but we are doing it over Zoom we were just talking about I don’t have my why It said Joe Rogan testing kit yet, but I told him that my wife actually has it. How you doing today, Wyatt?
Brandon:
I’m doing great. Thanks for having me, Brandon.
Wyatt:
Yeah, right on. I couldn’t be more excited. I am originally from the east Coast and I went to UNC Chapel Hill for my MBA, and having barbecue on the West Coast is something that just doesn’t happen all the time, much less happening today. So first I just say thank you. Good Lord.
Brandon:
Oh, man. Thanks for having us. I mean, shoot. This has been a long time coming, and, yeah, it basically took a long time to get the place.
Wyatt:
But we’re here now, and we’re going forward every weekend.
Wyatt:
Yeah, I know that because you’re always busy because you and I have been trying to connect so much, and I can only imagine cooking in your backyard. But I know a little bit about your story on how much of listeners so maybe you could walk through. I know you really started bartending San Francisco. Probably in early two thousands, right? 2014. But are you originally from here in California?
Brandon:
Yeah, I am. I’m actually from here. Montara. Wow. Yeah. I was born in Montara, moved around a lot when I was a kid with my mom and my sister, but yeah, pretty much right after high school went Thio Oceanside, California for a little bit for a little stint down there and then came back toe here half in the area and hung out for a little while and then basically moved to San Francisco for better part about eight years. And that’s where my culinary journey kind of began up there as well. Bartending on the side, making, making enough funds Thio go to school, you know, and all that. So s so if I can ask What were you What were you doing in Ocean Side?
Wyatt:
I mean, were you surfing, hanging out partying? You just can’t skip over that. Just that.
Brandon:
Yeah, that was That was a short stint. It was, Yeah, all of the above. Basically. But I went down there. I thought I really wanted to be kind of like a video editor and realized I couldn’t really hang out behind the desk for too long.
Wyatt:
So I I learned that early on down there. And you know what? I met a really famous surfboard shaper called Xanadu Surfboards down there, and I ended up becoming a sales rep for him and also working in a few restaurants on the side when I was down. And that was that was really unique and a fun experience, especially since I was young and all, I really wanted to do a surf.
Wyatt:
So eso is that basically growing up here? Montero surfing the coast and then as a rep, I guess you were selling to other surf shops or were you distributors, or how are they? I mean, I know that name because it’s been around a long time, right?
Brandon:
Yeah. Yeah, that was, You know, I was more like an in house guy, so I would kind of deal with the team riders, which was super super exciting and fun for me because he’s all these guys were great surfers, and I’m straight getting to know them and then just kind of taking care of office stuff, seeing, seeing how the surfboard business was running.
Wyatt:
And, uh, it was crazy dealing with Xanadu. He’s a really, really unique character. Super artsy. It was fun. I learned a lot and, yeah, I came running back up north because I, you know, it’s just something couldn’t keep me away.
Wyatt:
Yeah, it’s definitely a different different.
Wyatt:
My wife is from Southern California, and I get to say it because I do have family down there. But Northern California just has a different vibe, man. It’s just um, you know, I say we’re more hardcore and everything we do not just surfing because it’s cold water, but just like the valley and tech and really live in life, right?
Brandon:
Yeah, yeah, it’s unique.
Brandon:
It’s, You know, it’s kind of comparing apples and oranges, but you know, you you have a lot of benefits and everything so close here. You know, just with you’re gonna be snowboarding. You could be surfing almost on the same day, So it’s it’s pretty crazy.
Wyatt:
So 2004, after your Xanadu surfboard in house rep and partying and surfing as much as probably possible. You come back up to the North, as you say, because it’s a course place, but probably because it was getting out of control down there and you show up in 2014 and your bartending in San Francisco. But you had something. What was it about the interest? I mean, going from going from video editing to, you know, surfing is always part of the California scene, but then to culinary stuff like what sparked your interest there?
Brandon:
So I was always kind of interested in cooking early on, since I was, you know, my mom would have me in the kitchen.
Brandon:
Teach me little things when I was shooting.
Brandon:
I mean, like, eight years old. I’d be doing like, little French toasts and stuff. And so I always was interested in that. And then when I was around 14, I got my work permit.
Wyatt:
So, you know, I guess I was freshman sophomore, something like that. And then I went to work at what was the chart house. So right now it’s the Costa Nera in Montara. But it used to be called the Chart house, and that was great.
Wyatt:
That was that was a huge experience for me because I got to start in the dish pit, worked my way, the salad bar, and then I was, you know, shucking oysters. And so from then on, I was always kind of in the restaurant industry, just the great money that you could earn and still go to school. And you could still serve. So I always always had that growing up and then into my early early adulthood. But, yeah, when I moved to the city around 2000 and 10, that’s when I really started bartending. And then, um, really, really started getting into the culinary world. But before that I don’t know if you remember Cafe Classique, which is the press.
Wyatt:
That was the very, very first business that was in the press. It was called Cafe classy. That’s an Al Granada there. And the owner was a caterer and I used to cater with him when I was a really little kid and we’d go down to Martins Beach and cater on the beach. And then I just was so like, amazed with how he ran his business. And it was just we’d be cooking outside and everyone just be super happy with the food. And it was just a unique experience instead of being in the restaurant, kind of really dug being outside. And then I just started asking him like, Hey, man, get me in the kitchen. I wanna learn more and he would slowly bring me in and yeah, it just it just started from there.
Wyatt:
And then it kind of transferred into when I was far attending and then going to school. Ah little school called Kitchen on Fire in Berkeley to back up just a second in 2007, 2000 and eight when the economy crashed. I was really pushing to go Thio, one of those big fancy culinary schools calling Institute of America. But long story short, I couldn’t get the funding to do it myself. So I really, really like that little school in Berkeley, which is great because it got me a bunch of knowledge with weekend classes and still being able to work during during the time that I was there.
Wyatt:
So that was great.
Wyatt:
Yeah, I think like the culinary experience is interesting because I’ve never asked for someone’s resume. When I ordered off the menu, I pretty much just just said, Hey, like, is this good food or not? So I’m sure there’s culinary schools are great. I’m sure they all cook good food, and I’m sure I had it, but you don’t really don’t really do that. So I want to go back to Chart House. What was the Chart house? I mean, my experience at the I think it’s questionnaire restaurant right, which is there now is a little bit higher end. I don’t know about you, but there’s a guy who also likes barbecue like I like to eat a lot, and I really like their restaurant, and it’s super good food, but they’re super small portions. And for me, that just doesn’t work. Right? So was the chart house like a different scene down there?
Brandon:
Yeah, totally. The chart house was like, I don’t know how to classify it. I guess it would be like classic American E back then. Kind of like new American dishes. Ah, lot of steaks. You got your prime rib baked potatoes. Your salad bar was actually started by, like a snowboard in a surfer.
Wyatt:
I believed in Colorado, and then it was really, really big back in the late nineties, early 2000, and then some. For some reason, I think they started shutting him down. I don’t know what happened, but yeah, the portions were good. And right there being on the beach, you’d see all your friends in the parking lot going for a surf, and you bring them like baked potatoes on bread and stuff. It was just it was a hang out, you know, just as much as it was a good restaurant. But it was also really like a staple in the local community and a place where everybody worked really gorgeous scene down there too.
Wyatt:
Yeah, yeah.
Brandon:
Looking looking down to the are looking up to the north.
Wyatt:
So as you’re learning on this catering, seen it sounds like to me you might better at the forefront of of of essentially a food truck, right?
Brandon:
Like you’re serving food at Martins Beach. Did you just show up in the back of your car? Did you grill down there or what was the scene? Because the scenes a lot different now, that’s for sure.
Brandon:
Yeah, absolutely. That was That was I like to call it guerrilla catering style that was literally throw everything in the band and create basically, like a kitchen wherever you we went. And in that case, Martin speech, we’d roll up to the south in there on the local family down there, which was the d D family would have us down there and we’d set up a huge spread. And it was just it was really unique.
Wyatt:
But it was It was a shit ton of work, just throwing everything in that band, and then just it was crazy. And then the owner forest really unique rt guy. Not just a chef, but just super crazy artist he would just He was just a classic guy, man. He’d have everything on the grill going, and then he just be like, Hey, go to the band if you want a Jack and Coke or someone like, Hey, man, like all these foods on the grill like, e don’t want to, Jack, he would be more worried about keeping his staff happy and everything, and that was back when it was more kind of like a party scene.
Wyatt:
But he would always pull it off. And everyone would always love the food. And it was just It was crazy. It was, You know, there was a lot of a bomb fun stuff happening behind the scenes and step two. But it was It was wild.
Wyatt:
Yeah, sounds like a good time. So you find yourself in San Francisco, you’re working in bars. But then you you started catering. I think there or you started working in restaurants, right?
Brandon:
Yeah. So you know, when I was doing that when I was doing that school, that was one part of how I started cooking barbecue style around like 2011. But then also I just started interning, so I went Thio Pacific Union Club, which is in between the cathedral on the Fairmont there on California Street, I believe, and that was crazy.
Wyatt:
It was a French club, really strict, high, high volume, really, really high end clientele there. And I learned a lot about, like, basically getting yelled at every all the cooks. That was really strict, but, you know, you ended up learning a lot. It was a lot of tough love in the kitchen and stuff, but that was a seasonal gigs. So I did that. And I also worked for a butchery on Folsom Street called Hat Coast Meat Company.
Wyatt:
And I learned a lot from them, a swell, and I was still bartending during that time.
Wyatt:
So with that said, I began catering just doing my friends, weddings and stuff like that.
Wyatt:
And then it just kind of snowballed from there because I just started taking work off all the time from the bar. The bar was to my friends John Collins Bar, and they just, you know, I had the best shift. So it’s super easy to get the shifts filled and all my all my co workers were like jumping at the chance and for me it was great because I get to do weddings on the weekends and stuff like that. So it was nice.
Wyatt:
So what’s the deal? You commented when you were interning at the Union Club. Like what? Why are all these chefs are they all angry? You don’t seem angry, but thes thes. People like you watch the show and I get it like maybe it’s just a TV show, but it’s it’s incredible to me how mean they are like, Are they just miserable freaking People know that.
Brandon:
You know what I think that’s a really old school mentality that’s like how you’re supposed to treat your sue chefs. You’re lying cooks and it was supposed to be like, ran by fear. And I think that’s really fading out. And what I like so much about the barbecue community is it’s not like that at all. You know, we’re all basically, you know, it’s such a tight knit group. Can you get cooking for so long? And just the friends that I met through the barbecue community are just totally just welcome you with open arms, share secrets. And so it’s a really like, different way of cooking. You know the barbecue guys rather than the fine dining guys. Those guys are making incredible food. But just being in an environment like that, it’s just kind of It’s a whole different thing, it seems even.
Wyatt:
I mean, it seems worse than the militant, like its more militant in the military. I mean, it’s absolutely saying to me, and I would think that if you just treated people maybe a little bit nicer and they wanted to work for you, maybe it would work better, But yeah, I just needed to ask that question because you were. You said there yelling, and it’s just you had just brought back like that. Hell’s kitchen or whatever the heck that TV show I’m like. God, man, this guy needs This guy needs counseling like this is I don’t care how good is food is. So you start catering and your catering business takes off. And then how do you make the leap toe barbecue?
Brandon:
I actually saw some of your I think you have another an older company and look like you are doing a lot of barbecue, maybe pigs and things like that. But is there? I mean, it’s a whole different style of cooking.
Brandon:
I mean completely, right? I mean, sometimes the I mean, I barbecue, and I’m not really super good at it. I’d like to think I am, but is getting that consistency has to be, really? There must be some art to it.
Brandon:
Yeah, you know for sure what what we were doing with Native Catering.
Wyatt:
My prior catering company was a lot of pig gross, really barbecue centric. But, you know, some classic new American dishes as well mixed with appetizers. But yeah, yeah, that that that whole style, it’s just it takes a lot of a lot of effort. I journal the lot. So I wrote a lot of things down just with seasonings, with what I was doing, even the weather, everything about the cook. So I got really nerdy about it, and it really helped because I could go back into the journals and kind of Look what I did. You know, if that was a really good cook and I was really happy with what was coming out, I could kind of try to duplicate that, But it’s always different in barbecue, especially if you’re if you’re cooking over an offset barbecue pit with straight would fire no no gas assist or fancy buttons or anything like that. So it’s you have to deal with weather a lot of the elements to.
Wyatt:
So that’s always a fun added bonus Thio. The whole barbecue game. You know, it seems crazy.
Wyatt:
Thio. It’s just like you. You go out there and you could try to replicate it. Did you watch that? Jon Favreau? I’m like I actually love cooking. I do. I love the whole cooking thing. I someday I’d like to have a food truck, mainly because it seems like you meet so many cool people and they have that cooking show. But the the barbecue thing is, it just seems so hard to me. I do want to ask a question, though, because one of the things is is this coal cooking seen whether it’s restaurants, whatever it is, it’s very artistic.
Brandon:
But there’s a business that you have to run here like you actually have to make money and control portions and by the meat.
Brandon:
And so how do you like What was it in you?
Brandon:
Did you just wing this or did you have someone help you say Hey Wyatt like, here’s the accounting. We can only serve three ounces of Try Thio per meal, and we need to weigh our coleslaw.
Brandon:
I’m making this up right, But that’s really the the formula for making money in the restaurant business. How did you figure that out?
Brandon:
Yeah, I mean that. That’s the kind of the crappiest part, you know what I mean? But like you said, you got to run a business, especially with barbecue. There is just so much, you know, there’s so much loss on the products. You know, when you’re doing a brisket, you’re trimming that thing. Not only are you trimming and cooking the thing, but it shrinks 40%. So you’re losing that. But that’s what brings people in the door. So you just kind of learning a lot about your you know, your loss, your edible portion, as opposed to you know, your purchase price. You know, you’re as purchase product and then how much that shrinks. And then just being ableto still kind of keep keep unethical, mind when you’re the type of meat, you got your buying and you know you’re not because obviously you could just get the cheapest possible meats and shadow be go that route.
Wyatt:
But that’s not what we do here. So it’s just it’s difficult because it’s a fine balance. You don’t wanna price price people out, but you also don’t want to serve them garbage. You know what I mean? It’s just so it’s It’s that balance of just being trying to be consistent tryingto also control the portions and then bring it to bring it to the consumer in a way that’s, you know, that they feel like they get more bang for their buck, do you?
Wyatt:
That means the prices at all they got Yeah, absolutely.
Brandon:
You know, when Cove in first started out, that was it was crazy because the the supply chain just took it huge dive, and it was just all over the place change and almost like every other week. Now, I just I just have a good a good relationship with my butcher. And then he tells me, you know, going into the holiday, some things change, so prices changed a fair amount, but I try to keep him now pretty solid. So where they’re at right now, you never know what markets todo So you just you change your website?
Wyatt:
I did.
Wyatt:
And I know you have a menu on there. Maybe you don’t put the prices, but then you publish them. You’re open from Thursday to Sunday. Is that right? Um but I did see Tuesday tacos. What do you open special on Tuesday?
Brandon:
Not Tuesday. It’s actually on Thursday.
Wyatt:
Thursday, taco. All right, maybe that’s just a brain working that way.
Brandon:
You want to know?
Wyatt:
Here’s an interesting I’d like to talk about how you promote yourself. One of the things that I found in this Half Moon Bay Siri’s. It’s really incredible because I have a lot of students who I teach business. And I part of this podcast is I do teach how to build business plan and how to grow and and scale your business and a lot of these two and they come from all over the country and Canada and and some other places. And they always say, You know, we got to get a budget for advertising. We got to do this and I built my first company on organic S E O. Quite frankly, on did it that way. But everybody in Half Moon Bay, I don’t know that it was on purpose. But everybody uses social media incredibly well. I mean, so incredibly well that you could teach a course on it. Really. And also cross promotes each other. Which tricks All the algorithms, not tricks. Um leverages the algorithms so that you always show up, right? So that when I started falling happening day people I got like, I’ve got happening day, everything up top. So how do you how?
Brandon:
Well, let me say this I actually living in and listeners who aren’t from Half Moon Bay.
Brandon:
And maybe you can comment on this Wyatt I live at I don’t know what they call the south end of Half Moon Bay. Why it is located up in what may be is considered the north end in El Granada area on some dotted line That seems magical to me. But it’s all happening. Paid to me basically right from pillar point down toe, really, the Ritz Carlton effectively and then Main Street. But I found out about you because a local surfer, of all things Luca had this. He came up on my thing and he was with Laird Hamilton. And he has this barbecue in front of him with some, like, crazy haircut and knife that Laird has, and they’re like breakwater barbecue in Half Moon Bay. And I was like, I thought Laird was in Malibu. What the hell? So I look up and then that is literally how I found you. Is Luca and Laird Hamilton saying Break border barbecue? This thing is awesome. I was like So then I started kept looking around. I was like, Oh, I’m gonna follow them And, you know, for a long time is you know why we didn’t have barbecue anathema. They like there was really I don’t know if somebody attempted it, but there were burgers. And then, um So then when I interviewed Helen from Coastal, yeah, Mostel would design.
Brandon:
She’s like, you gotta talkto what? And basically, you know, you start pulling the strings. So I see you on How have you used?
Brandon:
Well, my first question is, do you pay for advertising the second? If you do what? Where do you do it? And then second, what platforms are you currently using? Because I believe that that’s probably where you’re getting most of your traffic.
Brandon:
Yeah, I think you’re right. I mean, shoot and thanks. Yeah, I always considered us is being just kind of, like, not really that great it social media. And I’m always kind of chasing my tail each week like searching for photos like, man, I got to get new photos. Oh, man, I think isn’t You know, this isn’t cool enough for you know what I mean? It’s always just kind of like you’re really trying to push and make everything come together, but it’s basically instagram, and then we connect our instagram thio Facebook, and that’s pretty much all I dio you know, I should I should probably get the Twitter and get all the other stuff working too. But right now I’m just in the kitchen so much that it’s just like I’m really one day hoping to get to the point where I can have like, a social media person, but it’s just not there right now.
Wyatt:
It’s just me. So yeah, we’re just doing like, light ads on instagram This little ad campaigns if we have a special and stuff like that but that you really for much Yeah.
Wyatt:
Yeah, the paid promotion, things where you can you set your you know, your rate and then how many days you want to add to run? And then we just kind of go from there.
Wyatt:
But, yeah, that’s pretty much all we’re doing right now, but really looking to kind of grow it the audience as much as possible because you’re right. I mean, that just helps out so much. And it’s just it’s just crazy where it’s where it’s gotten. You know, I false, Um, so many other barbecue guys and just they’re just doing incredible job, always air posting.
Wyatt:
And they’re just have just these insane shot. So I’m just like, Oh, man, I’m trying to catch up every week. Like these guys were just like, putting out the best content. So just trying to do my own thing and then hopefully get better, you know?
Wyatt:
Well, I think you’re doing a good job, quite frankly, from a guy who been a social, media, long time or whatever. They called it in the late nineties. But I don’t think you need to make it. What’s that? MySpace? Yeah, actually, I was before MySpace. Believe it. I My site started in 1997 96. Yeah, but I would say Wyatt for you like. Everything that you’ve done is really good. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t change anything. I would just pick up my phone while you’re cooking in that back barbecue and be like, Hey, man, I’m out here. I’m cooking. This thing’s gonna be ready 30 60 minutes. Because is it true? I don’t know. What is your ratio? I feel like and this is just my perception, because I’m not. I don’t know what native is because people probably get mad about that because I’m from Maryland originally, but I live in a half of available Wow. And are most of your customers local or are they tourists who come on the weekends?
Brandon:
You know what? To be honest with you, we have we have a really good local following. We’re seeing a lot of the same regulars come in like loyal people with barbecue, especially once they find a good barbecue spot. They seem to kind of like make it their spot. So we’re getting a lot of that, But I get a lot of barbecue tourists, just people that air looking for barbecue all across the Bay area, even state. So that’s been just like super wild meeting these people. And, yeah, there’s just, like, almost kind of, like craft beer nerds, you know? But with barbecue. So it’s been really cool just meeting these people. And I’m just like, Wow, I can’t believe you came all the way out from stocked in all these places around the Bay Area, even like L. A. You know. So I’m seeing a lot of that now. We’ve only been open for about 67 months now, and we’re seeing a lot of people kind of find us, you know? So that’s been that’s been huge.
Wyatt:
Do you? You You do have this demand model that I’d like you to talk about that in the barbecue, at least from what I can tell.
Brandon:
Like you’re like, Hey, I’m cooking six briskets When it’s gone, it’s gone. Can you talk about that model?
Brandon:
Yeah, that’s been a little tougher. People toe kind of wrap their head around around here because they’re not used to that. Like What do you mean? You’re sold out like, What are you talking about? And you know, it’s it’s It’s more. It’s It’s like a Texas model. You know, when you show up, we cook. We could long hours. This stuff takes 14 hours to make. There’s only so much space. It’s not like burgers where you compress them down, you know, and you just grind the meat, press it, throw a patty on the thing, and you can keep going. This really is just like, you know, the type of situation where it’s just when it’s gone. It’s gone. You know, your funds already ring.
Wyatt:
What is today Tuesday way, actually have, like, a reminder Thio. Make sure because because people really do that, right? Like you’re you’re like, Hey, we start taking orders. I don’t know. When do you post you normally post on Wednesday? I forget.
Brandon:
Yeah, we post Wednesday, but we always just We always have our website up, ready to take orders at on Tuesdays. So, yeah, anyone could go to the website in order from there for the upcoming weekend, which is really convenient. So that’s as super nice that that you know, people, people that are on it and then are usedto doing that every week they get their barbecue, they don’t have to stand in line.
Wyatt:
So that’s that’s another added benefit so that so do you have a cut off date.
Wyatt:
I forget my my wife event.
Brandon:
Actually, I should probably She does it, so I don’t know if they’re cut off like you’re like, Hey, if you by nine o’clock, that’s it.
Brandon:
Yeah, it’s on Thursday morning, so we opened it up Monday or Tuesday’s, and then it will close Thursday morning at 10 a.m. for the upcoming weekend.
Wyatt:
So what’s your favorite type of barbecue?
Brandon:
You know what I mean? Brisket, briskets King. If you go into a barbecue restaurant and then and you’re not satisfied with the brisket, I would just find a new barbecue rational to go Thio. That’s always always scheme big fan of the Texas trinity that that the brisket ribs sausage right there, you know, in house made sausage and ribs. Everything after that is a total added bonus. But yeah, I’m just like a sucker for the brisket. You know, just every barbecue joint I go always just make sure that I grabbed that first on the kind of branch out from there.
Wyatt:
That’s always a big thing. My dad is from Kansas City or lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and brisket out there is like I I don’t even realize it when I kids are going out there like brisket, you got to know about brisket. I was like, I have no idea what brisket is, but it does taste good. What about Tri Tip? Is tri tip on like a California in general California thing?
Brandon:
Yeah. So try tips. Mainly. It’s started in the Santa Maria section of California, and that’s just basically cooked over Santa Maria style grill over hard, hard oak. So usually, you know, like white oak or pretty much whatever you got, but yeah, that’s cooked over a grill. And yeah, California, Santa Maria, like Central Valley. Super popular. There it’s not. You don’t see it too much around here. We’re gonna start doing to try to tri tip sandwich. We’re gonna have that menu in the and the next, uh, in the next few weeks.
Wyatt:
So yeah, look out for that all over that tri tip.
Wyatt:
I don’t know, man.
Wyatt:
It’s the top car. It’s the top cut of the sort of line, right?
Brandon:
Yes. When I went back to the visit on the East Coast, I actually have ah, fishing friend who or now he’s a fishing guide. He retired as A from a butcher, and I was like, Hey, coming from Tri Tip, I wanna make it from my mom. He’s like, Tri Tip, What’s Tri Tip? I was like, You’re the butcher man And I described and he went online and he’s like, Well, you know, in general, the East Coast pit folks, I just don’t. So can you tell me for our listeners out there I don’t want you to give away any of your secrets like barbecue people that from what I’ve studied really have. Like, there’s some specialty things you dio. But if someone was cooking a steak or barbecue or trying to do something at home, is there like is lemon? I started using long time ago lemon on there and I let it sit and it breaks down. Some of the I guess the protein and stuff like, Do you have some tips for people at home who do might not be able to get the breakwater barbecue and half invade listening?
Brandon:
Yeah, I mean, if you’re cooking meets the big thing that I’ve noticed that that helps out a lot, it’s just super simple. It’s just taking it out of the refrigerator like an hour before you’re gonna be cooking it and season it and let it sit for about a half hour before you throw it on there. So it’s basically kind of just gets the tenderizes. The meat lets it sit in the seasoning and flavors it a bit more. So you can really get that seasoning come through. You know the thick kind of meats that always really helps. So that’s one good tip that I always, you know, always try toe, make happen. If I have time, do you use and?
Wyatt:
And Look, man, you can tell me like, man, your total amateur, Do you use a temperature, a temperature, a digital temperature thing to understand the inside? I mean, I do because I don’t can’t, like, do this feel thing that apparently the experts can do. Is that a good thing to use? I mean, yeah, sometimes if if I have it, you know, You know those thermal pens, those in Serie thermometers, those air, great, you know, just to kinda base everything off of.
Brandon:
But you could do the old finger like the hand trick where you go like this and you feel your palm, then that’s rare. And then you go like this. That’s when you feel your palm. Then that’s medium rare medium. And then well, so it zone old like old school trick that I learned from from somebody way back in the day. But it seems to work out a lot if you don’t have that Thermo pence, and that’s a good that’s a good deal for people.
Wyatt:
The Now you’re cooking Hammett. Do you still cater it all? Or you only doing the barbecue.
Brandon:
We’re going to start catering back again. You know, As you know, full service Catering basically almost basically collapsed in this past year.
Wyatt:
So it’s been super crazy for us because we had a bunch of business already signed up already, ready to go for before Kobe it. And then, you know, we had to give shoot upwards toe almost like $30,000 back. That was super tough, especially at the same time we’re opening our business. But now we’re starting to see we’re going to start doing a really, uh, a new model that is basically works with the health organizations, the counties around the Bay Area, and do socially distance or co vid friendly catering to where we show up. We create, like a covert plan. Obviously don’t want toe do any more people than what’s allowed in the county, but really trying to work with the customer and then also with the regulations and come up with just, like, a safe plan to do these things.
Wyatt:
So we’re working on that right now.
Wyatt:
Right on. And but people can you have outside seating there. Breakwater too, right?
Brandon:
Yeah. Yeah, we do. We have outside in the back, and then we also have a little little spot out front, you know, super dog friendly as well. And then we also are catering packages packages to pick up our great family packs are super nice. And then the website we’re launching launching our catering, our whole catering division within the next week on the on the website. So you can just go straight there and then get all your packages, You pick him up right on.
Wyatt:
I’m gonna bring this up for our people on YouTube. If you are not on YouTube and you are listening on our podcast, you can get breakwater at breakwater. B b q dot com. Right, Right. That’s it. Yeah. Yeah, Let me. Let’s see if we can check out breakwater barbecue here.
Brandon:
Super cool.
Brandon:
And you are updating this on a regular basis for people to tune in.
Brandon:
I mean, they what is your handle on on instagram?
Brandon:
So instagram it’s at breakwater barbecue all spelt out. So d a r e c u e and I can see on here you got your menu, which you probably items sell out first.
Wyatt:
Come first serve, I can tell you that. That’s absolutely guaranteed. So heading over to breakwater barbecue You wanna get this stuff passed, it is true. And then you can order online here. Hopefully you can see that and get anything you want here. Oh, and you do. Second, you sell it by the pound, huh?
Brandon:
Absolutely.
Brandon:
Wow.
Brandon:
Yeah, that Z let’s kind of Ah, great way to do it. You can try all the meats and just grab your side separate and you’re right in downtown.
Wyatt:
If anybody’s looking to visit Breakwater, you’re right downtown. You were right next to the post office were a little bit off the beaten track.
Brandon:
We’re so close, but yet so far away s so it’s not right on the highway So we’re still having a little bit of trouble, Dragon. Just, you know, people that don’t know that we’re here down the street, but yeah, right next to the post office across the street from the hardware store. There, you’ll see the trailer outfront normally. And then, uh, yeah, we’re pretty much here every day. We’re not open. We’re prepping in the back.
Wyatt:
Right on. Yeah, because you’re cooking for 14 hours, right?
Brandon:
Yeah. Briskets 14. That’s our longest cook that includes, like everything from resting it, wrapping it. And it’s a whole It’s all crazy process, but And you’re doing that Thursday?
Wyatt:
Friday? Saturday. Sunday.
Brandon:
Yeah, Yeah. You got to be worn out.
Brandon:
Yeah, My body is feeling it, that’s for sure. I need thio. Need to get get on the bike with you one of these days and head down to frequent on your NuWave. Build these knees back up.
Wyatt:
Yeah, man, Any time getting a little colder, but it’s definitely been nice and clear Head.
Brandon:
So breakwater barbecue downtown. L Granada. You know, normally, Wyatt, I ask everyone on here toe leave three h p. T s high percentage tips to run a business. But today we’re going to call inaudible. And I would like you to have three h p t s for anybody who is cooking barbecue. Can you do that?
Brandon:
Anyone that’s cooking barbecue. Yeah, I would say Get to know your butcher, Get a relationship going with your local butcher.
Wyatt:
It’s always great. Get know him by name because those are the guys that are gonna be your lifeline to the to the source. You know, the good meets. That’s huge.
Wyatt:
Yeah.
Wyatt:
Do you have a tip without giving away years here that the average consumer could go to as far as, like, a butcher like Yeah, like, yeah, New leaf is good.
Brandon:
Spangler’s is actually really great to, you know, Spangler’s has got a nice little butchery program.
Wyatt:
They’re super nice people.
Brandon:
And, uh, yeah, just get to know him by name, and you’ll be surprised what they’ll, uh, they’ll have behind the counter for you.
Wyatt:
That’s a good one. All right. Number two number two would be kind of finds.
Brandon:
Maybe someone that’s whether it be online or a cook, that you can kind of look up Thio whether it be celebrity or something like that. Kind of check out some of their dishes and then just give them a go and just keep kind of diving in from their cook’s country is a really, really cool magazine that I really like. It’s a it’s not backed by any corporate sponsors. So they do all these testing on products, and they’re not beholding to anyone. So there’s just they basically tell it like it is. It’s a really cool little magazine there, thio, especially if you’re just getting into cooking. So that’s a good one.
Wyatt:
That’s a really good tip.
Brandon:
Number three. Yeah, and the number three for barbecue. Get yourself in offset barbecue pit, even if you want to get like a trigger, those air always nice and they make it easy. But if you could go toe even like Home Depot and get a cheap just would fire pit and then just just fire that thing up and get going. That’s how I started. I cooked on that thing until there was just holes in the firebox, and that’s where I took all my notes. And, you know, it’s just it’s just so much fun, especially out here being in the backyard and make a day out of it. you know, Cool man.
Wyatt:
Well, congratulations on your success so far. And thank you so much for bringing barbecued a half moon bay for for people who just, you know, you crave that. Sometimes I told my wife, right? Yeah, you’re welcome. And I wish you the best of luck. Maybe we’ll talk next year. And things were things will change. Do you have inside seating to there? By the way?
Brandon:
We do. We have, like, just about 12 seats, but yeah, we dio Yeah, right on.
Wyatt:
Well, why it? Thanks very much. Really.
Brandon:
Appreciate. Yeah. Brandon. Yeah. Come on by. You know you know where to find us.
Wyatt:
We’ll be It will be there this weekend.
Brandon:
That sounds good. Look forward.
Wyatt:
It Is that a fun episode or what? Wyatt, we’ll see you this weekend. Get some of that fresh cooked pit barbecue from you.
Brandon:
Thanks for coming on the show and sharing your fun story.
Brandon:
And thank you, friends for tuning into the show. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate review. We want to hear from you and subscribe. So you don’t miss any of our weekly episodes until the next time. Remember, you are just one business plan away. I’m rooting for your success. We’ll see you soon
